Mage

No other hero wields the arcane with as much skill and raw power as a Mage. Using their unrivaled array of spells, Mages can wipe entire boards of minions, deal devastating amounts of damage directly to their enemy, or summon creatures of pure energy to do their bidding.

 Mage is one of 11 classes in Hearthstone.

Heroes

Mage is represented by the following heroes. Jaina Proudmoore is the default hero of Mage.

Heroes

Alternate portraits

Background

Main article: Mage

Students gifted with a keen intellect and unwavering discipline may walk the path of the mage. The arcane magic available to magi is both great and dangerous, and thus is revealed only to the most devoted practitioners. To avoid interference with their spellcasting, magi wear only cloth armor, but arcane shields and enchantments give them additional protection. To keep enemies at bay, magi can summon bursts of fire to incinerate distant targets and cause entire areas to erupt, setting groups of foes ablaze. Masters of ice can command blizzards that tear into flesh and limit movement. Should enemies manage to survive this assault, the mage can shrink them into harmless sheep in the blink of an eye.

Powerful magi can even generate enhancements and portals, assisting allies by sharpening their minds and transporting them instantly across the world.

Hero Power

Main article: Fireblast

Singe unworthy opponents with a burst of magical flame.

The mage Hero Power Fireblast can be used to deal 1 damage to any target. It is useful for board control, able to remove smaller minions like Bluegill Warrior or even large minions like Boulderfist Ogre if the minion has already been weakened. It can be used strategically to remove a Divine Shield from an enemy, or to hit one of the mage's own minions to activate certain effects, such as Amani Berserker or Acolyte of Pain. As a Hero Power, Fireblast can bypass minions with Taunt, but cannot target elusive minions like Faerie Dragon. Note that it is not a spell and therefore is not affected by Spell Damage.

Replacement Hero Powers

• Fireblast Rank 2 is the upgraded Hero Power.
• Frost Lich Jaina will replace the current Hero Power with Icy Touch, as well as replacing the hero.
• Raid the Sky Temple will replace the current Hero Power with Ascendant Scroll once the Quest is completed.
• The Amazing Reno will replace the current Hero Power with What Does This Do?, as well as replacing the hero.
• Magister Dawngrasp will replace the current Hero Power with Arcane Burst, as well as replacing the hero.

Traits

Surprising Effects

Sometimes the magic forces wielded by Mages have surprising results. Take advantage of the wild nature of magic by activating random effects and… hoping for the best!

Featured cards

Freeze

Mages can freeze minions to prevent them from attacking for a turn. They can also take advantage of a minion’s frozen state to deal bonus damage or trigger additional effects.

Featured cards

Secrets

Store your arcane energies as mysterious secrets that will automatically trigger when your opponent unknowingly meets the spell’s requirements.

Featured cards

How to get cards

Core cards

Completing the Apprentice Track awards 17 Mage cards (32 copies), while winning up to 500 games in Ranked or Arena awards golden copies of existing cards. All Core cards are uncraftable and cannot be crafted or disenchanted.

Expansion cards

Mage pack

Main article: Card pack

Mage's expansion cards can be obtained mostly by obtaining corresponding card packs or Mage class packs. The player can buy them in Shop with gold or real money, or get them through various sources. Some cards may be available through various promotions, like logging in to get them.

Mini-set cards, while can be obtained like expansion cards, can also be obtained by buying its bundle available in Shop for a limited-time. The player can buy the bundle with gold or real money.

Expansions cards are also craftable and can be obtained by crafting them with Arcane Dust.

Adventure cards

Main article: Adventure

Adventure cards can be obtained by completing their Adventure's encounters. They are uncraftable until the player completes the Adventure or their set rotates to Wild format. The player can buy the Adventure with gold for each individual part, or real money for the whole of it.

Cards

For Standard format cards, see Mage/Standard format.

For Wild format cards, see Mage/Wild format.

For Classic format cards, see Mage/Classic format.

Breakdown of Mage cards in both Standard and Wild formats can be seen in the following table.

Mage card statistics

Rarity	Hero	Minion	Spell	Weapon	Location
Free	0	2	18	0	0
Common	0	64	63	0	1
Rare	0	61	62	2	1
Epic	0	18	48	0	0
Legendary	3	50	8	1	0

Strategy and gameplay

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Mages use a large array of spells that cripple the opponents minions and damage their hero. Decks that contain minions that boost Spell Damage like Kobold Geomancer or Azure Drake will be able to strengthen the mage's numerous direct damage spells and even make weak spells into formidable nukes. Minions that benefit from playing spells like Mana Addict, Violet Teacher, or Gadgetzan Auctioneer often also fit well into mage decks.

For slower decks, mages can turtle exceptionally well, with cards like Ice Barrier and Ice Block which augment the hero's ability to survive, while their early game crowd control effects like Frost Nova and Cone of Cold prevent retaliation until the mage can play powerful cards like Pyroblast.

Common deck types

Tempo Mage is perhaps the most common mage deck type, with a number of variants. Mages can arm themselves with low-cost spells with Mana Wyrm, Flamewaker, and Vex Crow to snowball early and finish off with direct damage while never running out of steam with Aluneth or Mana Cyclone. Secret Mage relies on Secrets not only to generate useful effects but also to baffle and confuse the opponent, forcing them to delay strong plays while they dismantle the mage's unpredictable web of spells. Aggro or burn mage goes for direct damage as as often as possible instead, using aggressive but short-lived minions to push for damage early on and pelt the opponents with fireballs, a barrage of arcane missiles, and one big Pyroblast to finish them off. In Wild format, Mech Mage makes heavy use of cards from Goblins vs Gnomes for strong Mech synergy, and also spell synergy with the generated Spare Parts cards, making this a semi spell-oriented deck.

On the slower side, Mages can employ heavy spells with Dragon's Fury and Arcane Artificer for late-game control. They can also employ a deck that goes all-in on Archmage Antonidas. Once they have all the combo pieces to create four Sorcerer's Apprentices, their powers combined allows the mage to throw infinite Fireballs to end the game. This combination is known as Exodia Mage.

Mage is also known for featuring one of the slowest decks in the game - the Freeze Mage. This deck uses heavy control elements including the mage's unique Freeze effects, AoE removal like Flamestrike, and the impenetrable Ice Block to slow and delay the opponent's assault, followed by a flurry of direct damage spells like Fireball, Frostbolt and Ice Lance to destroy the opponent, often in a single turn.

Mages are also attuned with Elementals. Elemental Mages have rudimentary Elemental synergy effects that generate value, but late game Elementals can overwhelm the opponent, whether it's using Frost Lich Jaina to create an army of lifestealing elementals with her Icy Touch, or crashing down Animated Avalanches upon their opponent.

Counters

While strategy against mages depends heavily on deck type, this section describes some general pointers to bear in mind when learning to play against the class.

Mages have strong battlefield control, with single target spells like Polymorph and Fireball, and numerous Freeze effects such as Frost Nova, along with board wide removal from Flamestrike and Blizzard. These cards excel later in the game when stronger minions are played and when mana is available. It is possible to bait removal by placing threatening minions to force the mage to use them before then playing your strongest cards. Be aware of minion vulnerability when approaching turn 7, as any sizeable force of minions (especially at 4 Health or less) will offer a good reason for the mage to play Flamestrike if they have it.

A mage has a large array of powerful Secrets, but you can minimize their impact. If the mage has a Secret always try to safely determine which one it is:

• Play a weak minion before a strong minion in case it is Mirror Entity.
• Play weak or cheap spells before using strong and costly spells in case of Counterspell.
• Attack the hero directly with a weak minion before a strong minion in case it's Vaporize.
• Spellbender will replace the target of a single-target spell with a 1/3 minion. So you can use a weak spell before an important spell to negate it.
• Ice Barrier is a powerful secret that will give the mage 8 Armor when your minion or hero attacks the mage. Spells and Hero Powers do not trigger the Secret.
• Ice Block will delay death for at least one turn so in a close game don't be baited into using all of your cards in an attempt to kill the mage as it may allow the mage to make a comeback if you sacrificed too much.
• When killing enemy minions, kill the weakest one first in case of Duplicate, and/or the cheapest in case of Effigy.
• When you cast a spell, be ready for a potential Netherwind Portal. Don't spend all of your mana just in case it's a minion like Archmage Vargoth or Nozdormu the Timeless that you need to address.

Trivia

• As of 2016, mage is by far the most commonly searched for class using Google. Top searches include "Freeze Mage" and "Mech Mage".
• Mage was one of the first three classes to receive an alternate hero. It is tied with Paladin and Warlock for the most available heroes, and was the first class to have three possible heroes.
• During the game's early development, the mage hero was Kael'thas Sunstrider. The hero can be seen in screenshots from that period.

Gallery

Card frames

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  Hero card

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  Location

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  Minion

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  Spell

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  Weapon

Dual-class

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  Shaman/Mage Minion

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  Shaman/Mage Spell

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  Mage/Rogue Minion

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  Mage/Rogue Spell

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  Mage/Hunter Minion

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  Mage/Hunter Spell

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  Warlock/Mage Minion

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  Warlock/Mage Spell

History

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  Hero card prior to Patch 18.0.0.54613

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  Spell prior to Patch 20.0.0.77662

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  Weapon prior to Patch 18.0.0